Statements

The regular Assembly of the Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church was held
from May 14 through May 25 at the Patriarchate in Belgrade, under the
presidency of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle. All the hierarchs
of the Serbian Orthodox Church participated in the work of the Assembly.

Particular
joy came to the Assembly with the renewal of liturgical unity between
the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Church Outside of Russia,
realized on the feast of the Ascension of our Lord in Christ the Savior
Cathedral in Moscow, after nearly ninety years of separation. During
that entire time it was only the Serbian Orthodox Church out of all the
local Orthodox Churches that did not sever liturgical communion with
the Russian hierarchs in diaspora throughout the world after the
Bolshevik Revolution, and thereby contributed to this event, which is
significant not only for the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church and
people but for all of Orthodoxy.

Kosovo and Metohija have been throughout the centuries populated with Serbs, and up until the great forced migrations of the Serbian people toward the north, in the 17th and 18th centuries, Serbs have always been the majority population in Kosovo and Metohija. It is a generally known historical fact that the medieval centre of the Serbian state was located therein, and remaining to this day the centre of national, Christian sacred and secular culture of the Serbian people.

Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and
Serbian Patriarch, with all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox
Church-to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of
our holy Church: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and our
Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous paschal
greeting:

CHRIST IS RISEN!

"This is the day of resurrection.
Let us be illumined, O people.
Pascha, the Pascha of the Lord.
For from death to life and from earth to heaven
has Christ our God led us."
(The Canon of Pascha, Ode I)

With these verses of the Paschal hymn, dear spiritual children, we,
the believing people of God, begin the Celebration above all
celebrations, song above all songs, about the Event above all events -
The Resurrection of Christ. The Resurrection, like the Crucifixion, is
a stumbling block for the Jews and foolishness for the Greeks, but we
experience and celebrate it as the deepest experience of our faith and
life. This is the experience which was first encountered by the holy
myrrh-bearing women and the holy apostles, which they have graciously
passed down to us and which we have received with faith, with the faith
that becomes the power of life.

The
Serbian Orthodox Church's Holy Assembly of Bishops held its regular
meeting from May 15 to May 27, 2006, in the Patriarch's residence in
Belgrade with His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle presiding. All
diocesan hierarchs (bishops) of the Serbian Orthodox Church
participated in the work of the Assembly.

At the beginning of its work the Assembly gave thanks to the Lord
and expressed the joy of all its members following the successful
recovery of His Holiness Patriarch Pavle and his release from the
Military Medical Clinic in Belgrade where he underwent medical
treatment.

The Assembly also expressed joy at the successful continuation of
work on the interior appointment of St. Sava Memorial Cathedral in
Vracar (Belgrade), praising the zeal of the philanthropists and donors
of this holy endowment to date, and calling on the faithful of the
Serbian Orthodox Church to continue building this holy shrine, which
builds all of us, with their donations, with love and through
sacrifice.

HRH Crown Prince Alexander was received by His Excellency Secretary General of the United Nations. His Royal Highness has known the Secretary General for many years and has met on many occasions. The Secretary General warmly welcomed His Royal Highness to the United Nations and briefed him on recent meetings, actions and activities taken by the United Nations in view of the extremely serious situation in Kosovo.

The Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija has learned that KFOR has decided to guard Sokolica Monastery. Previous statements by some international representatives indicated that KFOR had abandoned the monastery after the forcible evacuation of Mother Makarija and the Sokolica sisterhood. Thanks to the intervention of Bishop Artemije and his monks and priests with KFOR representatives in Mitrovica, it was agreed that KFOR would stay to guard the monastery. Finally KFOR agreed to return the nuns to the monastery and with them the sisterhood of Devic Monastery, which was evacuated and destroyed yesterday.

The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, from their extraordinary session, which met in expanded convocation, summoned by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle, on the occasion of the latest tragic events in Kosovo and Metohija, issued the following Statement and Appeal: